Speed tourism in Italy

Leaving the beautiful little city of Sarzana on my way to Rome and meeting the lovely Maria time was short. I only had one day more, but wanted to see so much. It ended up with a couple hours in Pisa, since the train stopped there anyways. I walked around the city center, clicking photos of the tower. And then to spend the afternoon and the night in Florence. Florence is a beautiful city in the heart of Tuscany with a lot of history, and I wish I could spend more time there, but I need to save something for the next time in Italy right?

Beautiful Italy

I booked my next hostel thinking it was situated in La Spezia, Italy the doorway to the Nacional Park of Cinque Terre. After looking for the street on different maps and after a while asking in the tourist information I found out it was in a totally different city, though only about 10-15 minutes with the train south of La Spezia. So this day included a lot of waiting in the train station an long train rides, but the hostel ended up being REALLY nice and actually was a whole appartment which I had all to myself in a very cute little italian city called Sarzana. After a long day and a presence of a mild hang-over after the free champagne party at the hostel in Cannes I had an early night to be ready for the long hike the next day.

The Cinque Terre national park must be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen (so far). It's an aproximetly 5 hour walk between 5 different cities and you walk through vineyards, land full uf olive trees, beautiful beaches and have the turqoise water blinking at your side all the time. What a dream. The first part of the walk is weelchair friendly and very easy, and called via dell amore, what a suiting name. This is the closest to heaven you'll ever come.

Living the luxury life on a budget

I gathered up with a fellow traveller and headed for the hot spots of the French Riviera, that is Monaco and Cannes.
Monaco definetely lives up to its rumours. It's a place for the snob from all over the world. We actually missed the marriage of Prince Albert by a day, and as well it was sunday, so there was nothing more to do than to go around taking pictures of the insane yachts and the cars that get all men in all ages fantasising of better days.
We walked a bit through the Monaco Grand Prix route and headed for the beach. After a swim in the same sea, but a diferent country, we headed back to France and to Cannes where we as well hit the beach and chilled for some time.

Next stop will be Italy

The French Riviera

After the not so pretty, but ful of very nice, helping people, city of Marseille, the time had come for the French Riviera. When I came to Nice after a long wait at the train station and the actual train ride, the hostal was luckily very easy to find. The hostel where I had booked a 6-bed doorm was fully booked, and they put me into a single ensuite room. Which was very nice, but makes it a bit harder meeting people when traveling alone. Nice is a very beautiful city, and the old city is filled up with cute restaurants in small pebbled streets.
I had promised myself to not use the "when in Rome" excuse before I actually got to Rome, but I just "had" to eat at the most estethicly beautiful restaurant I've ever seen, even though it was a bit out of my budget, but what to do when your alone and the romantic spots just keeps popping up, well you treat yourself.

Song of the day:  When I'm alone - Lizzie

Marseille

After my pit stop in Montpelier, the next place to go was Marseille, more or less only because that was the only place I could seem to find a hostel, without travelling the whole day. Marseille has grown away from its bad reputation, but I still would not call it a French Pearl. Though the view from Notre Dame de la Gard, which is one of the probably trillion churches I will pass by one my trip, was awesome.

I asked the guy in the reception wether it was safe to walk alone in the night here, and he dragged the answer so long that I saw that as a yes, so it was a early night for me there. I went out to dinner, and to differ from my not-so-much french lunch, I went for a more french dinner, of course starting with onion soup, and off course some lovely french wine.

From here, the trip goes onward to the French Riviera.

Song of the day (still) - Vagabond - Wolfmother

Going to France

Finally has my travel started, and the first day I headed for France. I left Barcelona at 9 in the morning and had to switch trains in Figueres and in Montpellier in France. Originally I really wanted to stay a day in Montpelier, but because of an ongoing music festival there was no hostels available. But, I at least had some hours between my trains, so I got to see a little bit of this charming city. And was I right! This would defenetly be a city to stay in a couple of days. It is a really pitoresque, typical french city with charming little streets and plazas to wonder around in, just wish I had more time, less luggage and more money. I had time for some lunch, and what better to eat in France than a norwegian salad. (A way of from my idea to only be eating local food on the way. But when you're a bit early for lunch, and want to sit outside on a nice little plaza before heading back on the train, you'll take what you get).
After a couple of hours it was back to the station, where I learned my lesson number one for waiting outside the railway station, do not stand at the entrance smoking. Suddenly there will be a line of people asking you for cigarettes. I do not mind giving out one here and there, but when a girl asks you for one and you hold out your pack, and she says: I take three thank you!! and leave, well then this tobaco shop closes!
Song of the day; Vagabond - Wolfmother

where did all my stuff come from?

It's been many years since I thought packing my bag was fun! Although I love planning a trip, the packing part I could easily be without. Given that I've been in Barcelona for six months now, and have only a small suitcase to send back to Norway before going interrailing for a month (already sent a big one with my parents when they were visiting), I must admit that this was not my best plan ever.
Solution; you just have to come back to Barcelona soon to pick up the rest of your stuff. - A plan that suits me very well; after all, I will need some distraction from my thesis writing the upcoming semester.
To let other people out of the stress and furiousness that comes with packing, I will try to come up with some tips.

So, what do you bring in your rucksack for a month of interrailing? Well, I would recommend to take as little as possible, and not do like me. Start the travel from your home, so you can leave all the unnecessary stuff at home. Plan a little bit ahead and try to pack the things you want to bring, then take out half of it.

The size of your rucksack will be a natural limit, so maybe it would be better to have a smaller bag; mine is a Bergans 65 liters rucksack made especially for women, which is great because it fits our narrow shoulders and shorter backs perfect. As well it opens like a bag when you put it on the floor, which make finding things in limited light so much easier.

Off course you have to bring all your documents, and at least one copy of each document. Imagine it wouldn't be that fun getting stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere, without passport nor any cash.

As I've already, even before my trip has started, spent two hours in the train station here in Barcelona to make some ticket reservations, I've learned the importance of a good book. As well it could be a good opportunity to plan ahead, maybe you will find some fellow travelers, and what would then be better than to invite to a friendly game of cards.

For the moment I am reading this book, which is highly recommendable, a book from a Zimbabwean author, with a lot of short stories about the life in Zimbabwe.

When it comes to the practical stuff you should bring an emergency kit, a swiss army knife or something similar (what would you do without a bottle-opener?), a reading lamp for dark hostels or camping sights, earplugs to block out annoying crying children or drunk fellow travelers when you really need your sleep,  a small sleeping bag will be handy in cold night trains and a towel that packs really small. Duck tape and a small sewing kit could come in handy for small reparations along the way. Who wants to get stuck in the train bathroom just to imagine a little to late that you do not have any paper? - Bring toilet paper or some packs of Kleenex.

Regarding the daily things, you should pack clothes that will get you along one week, and after that, just wash it in hostels. For that a universal sink plug (hostels do not have plugs to avoid flooding) and a line to hang your clothes would be practical. For the shoe part I would recommend good walking shoes (although for my part, this will be my Converse all stars, maybe not the best choice but I do not have the heart to leave them here alone in Barcelona), as well as some sandals that also can be used in filthy hostel /camping showers. I would definitely recommend Hawaiianas, which as well are really good to walk in! Sorrily the weather is not always perfect, so a rain jacket is a must if you want to keep dry. But for the good weather; do not forget your swimwear.

Concerning toiletries, try to keep it on a minimum (although I didn't make it, maybe you can). You do not really need two big bottles of shampoo and conditioner and extra treatment for your hair. Lots of hairdressers give out small tests of shampoo, and after the rules of liquid amount allowed in planes a lot of handy-sized toiletry products are available.

A good travel guide is a must. For me it will be Lonely Planet, Europe on a shoestring; aka the bible.

One thing I know I  could not live without on my trip, will be MUSIC. Since my Iphone got stolen and I do not longer have my beloved Spotify list, for me it will be a handy-sized Ipod Shuffle. Though they do not have the greatest memory and thus will not fit the largest amount of music. If you have a larger memory, you should definitely consider audiobooks to avoid the weight of a big book or two.

Song of the day; Vagabond - Wolfmother